From my experience servicing a 50D, review the entire procedure on video first (youtube has some), just to have an idea where the screws are hidden, and which element to take off before the other.
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BerzemusSep 12 '12 at 15:35

2 Answers
2

I have done this a few times with other canons, not the 7D though, my question to you is are you comfortable with micro assembly, very fragile connectors, documenting your take down etc?

Typically they use small Philips and some specialized ones as well take a look here for a visual guide.

Their are other issues, such as needing a special pry tool you can fake it but it's tricky, adhesives, some of which requires heat and some must just be carefully pried loose, and the order that things should be removed in is not always obvious so takes lots of pictures and label screws.

If you speak chinese this might help lol, of course you can just watch and infer what they are doing (might be an english version but I didn't find one)

I would suggest taking it to a tech unless you are already very good at this kind of thing.

I am totally comfortable with all fo this, excep the heating stuff... I am used to opening and closing iPhones up to the battery stuck to the bottom rear and replacing the mike and dock connector. I guess this will be similar in complexity, but just with more stages. Right ? :)
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Skippy FastolSep 12 '12 at 16:15

@SkippyFastol - yes a lot more stages, it can at times be puzzling as well they like to hide screws under very thin external overlays etc. It's very easy to forget which screw went where, how things were oriented, order of assembly, connectors sometimes have micro tabs that need to be pressed etc. Just go slow, mark all screws/fasteners and take pictures of everything before you remove it.
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IdisticSep 12 '12 at 16:37

well, nowadays, one can film oneself unscrewing the device, and then play back the movie in reverse... No more need to write things down. But thanks for mentioning the various pitfalls !
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Skippy FastolSep 12 '12 at 16:47

@SkippyFastol, true, but that didn't work so well for me because I have a tendency to forget the camera is there. Anyway good luck hey publish the video if you make one!
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IdisticSep 12 '12 at 17:06

EDIT : Photos of the damn EOS 7 being torn down (as far as I needed to!)

DISCLAIMER

That was NOT easy, and I had special tools to open the beast. Also, doing this leaves traces on the screws. It will be obvious the camera has been broken into. DO NOT DO IT ON YOUR OWN. BRING THE CAMERA TO AN AFFILIATED CANON REPAIR GUY.